Vending apparatus.



No. 766,445. PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

0.JAEGBR.

VENDING APPARATUS. APPLICATION rum) MAR. 6. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented August 2, 1904.

PATENT EETcE.

VENDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,445, dated August 2, 1904.

Application filed March 6, 1903. Serial No. 146,571. (No model.)

To all whom if may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTO Janene, a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Vending Apparatus, which are fully set forth in the following specification.

My invention relates to coin-actuated vendingapparatus; and itconsists more particularly in improvements in the escapement-lever and in other details of construction, whereby the apparatus is rendered more simple and more positive and satisfactory in its operation. It is an improvement upon the automatic vending-machine for which I have received United States Letters Patent No. 686,73t, granted November 19, 1901.

The invention will best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a detail.

A represents the coin-chute, and B the lever actuated by the coin. Lever B also acts as an escapement-lever for the toothed wheel or ratchet O.

D is the frame or guide for the elevator, in which are placed the packages to be delivered.

E is the elevator traveling in guide 1), being raised by the chain or cord F. The chain F passes over the pulley H on the same shaft with the ratchet O and is connected to the spring (t, which latter operates (when permitted by the escapem ent) to raise the elevator.

It sometimes happens that a spurious counter or a coin of light weight swings the lever B only partly away from the opening of the chute A, so that the coin remains wedging the lever, (to the right in the figure,) whereby both horns of the escapement-lever are disengaged from ratchet O and the elevator will continue to deliver the articles until empty. One object of my invention is to prevent this. I accomplish it by providing such a construction that there can be no discharge until the lever has made a complete movement, first, away from the coin-chute, and, second, back to its original position. This second movement is accomplished not by a cam action of the escapemcnt apparatus, but by some outside clement, such as a spring.

The foregoing result is accomplished by providing a lip, as I), on the heel of the lever B and employing a properly-adjusted spring (I to connect the bottom of the chute with the lower end of the lever B to retract the latter as soon as the coin shall have passed. \Vhen the proper coin has passed down chute A, it swings lever B away, (to the right in the drawings) and the lip has then assumed the position indicated in Fig. 2. At the same time the toe 7/ of the lever has moved out of the way to permit the tooth c to escape, but thereupon the tooth c of the ratchet immediately engages against the lip I), and further rotation of the ratchet (and upward movement of the elevator E) is arrested. The result is that until lever B has been swung back to its normal position there can be no delivery; but normally as soon as the coin has dropped out the spring a at once retracts the lever B, heel 7) is swung out of the path of tooth 0, (while toe l) is swung into the path of the third tooth c,) and the ratchet O rotates, (until tooth v engages toe and the topmost article is discharged from guide 1). The parts are of course so adjusted that this movement is just suflicient to dislodge the topmost article only from frame I).

It will be seen that so long as the lever B has not completed the return swing, whether held forward by a wedged coin or for any other reason, there can be no delivery, and of course there can be only one delivery for each coin andeach do'uhle swing of the lever.

The operation of the spring (1? produces a sudden jerk or shock which serves to raise the topmost article from the pile, and almost simultaneously the tooth c ejects it.

The second feature of the improvement consists in having a comparatively long coiled spring G, which passes around a grooved pulley y in the base of the apparatus and is secured, as at g. This enables me to make use of a longer and stronger spring and avoids having to employ weights with the complicated construction shown in my former patent.

On account of having only one spring G and one chain F, which latter is attached to the back of the platform E, so as to be out of the way of the packages, I employ a platform of the construction shown in which a depending bracket bears against suitable flanges at the rear (left) of the guides D.

It will be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction or the exact arrangement of apparatus shown. For in stance, instead of the spring a some equivalent device might be employed, as the counterbalancing of the lower end of lever B, to produce the same eifect. Likewise it is not essential to my invention that the teeth of the ratchet operate to eject the article, because the shock given by the escapement is suflicient to throw out the topmost article if there be some inclined surface to act as a deflector in changing the direction of the article toward the opening (Z. Other changes may be made and parts of the invention employed with or without the other parts without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim 1. In a coin-controlled vending apparatus, the combination with a guide, an elevator for the articles, and means for lifting the elevator to deliver the articles, of an escapementratchet coacting with said lifting means, an

escapement-lever having a toe that normally engages one tooth of said ratchet and isadapted to be swung aside by the coin to disengage said tooth, a heel on said lever that thereupon immediately engages the ratchet-tooth in front of the first-named tooth before the article can be delivered, and additional means for swinging said lever back to its initial position after the coin has passed and thereby causing said toe to engage the ratchet-tooth behind the first-named tooth while the article is being delivered.

2. In a coin-controlled vending apparatus, the combination with a guide and elevator, the chain for raising the latter and the journal around which said chain passes, and the escapement connected with said journal, of a pulley on the base of said apparatus, a coilspring fast at one end to said base and reciprocating around said pulley and secured at the other end to said chain.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OTTO JAEGER.

Witnesses:

DANIEL A. MooMEY, JOHN MICHAEL GRoUL. 

